(And I know that this has been seen here before and is only tenuously related but I still want to gratuituously direct you to this incredibly entertaining story, A Study In Emerald, which I ran into again while preparing this.)
posted to MetaFilter by lupus_yonderboy at 12:28 AM on November 21, 2008

From Hell is Moore's most novelistic, most mature and powerful work. It haunted me.

I can't imagine a condensed version.


I wrote a condensed version once. It wasn't very good
posted to MetaFilter by dng at 6:23 PM on November 21, 2008

Rule 34 and Alan Moore (slightly NSFW)
posted to MetaFilter by sebastienbailard at 9:09 PM on November 21, 2008

If I'm going to make it through our current financial crisis, I've got to make up my own hyper-selective demographically-targeted genre. I haven't decided on which one yet, but I'm thinking of focusing on corprophilic trust-fund boys with mommy fixations who were too stupid to have gotten their ivy league degrees without their legacy status and family connections. So keep an eye on the New York Times Book Review's bestseller list for the first git shit fit twit tit lit hit.
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 1:54 PM on November 21, 2008

I'm thinking of focusing on corprophilic trust-fund boys with mommy fixations who were too stupid to have gotten their ivy league degrees without their legacy status and family connections.

Brad never forgot the first moment he laid eyes on Joyce. She was squatting in the corner of his handsomely-decorated office, defecating onto his ficus. She eyed his expensive cufflinks suggestively. Maternally. Erotically. "Hope you don't mind me takin'... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 2:18 PM on November 21, 2008

Elaine pondered Macario's invitation to his mountain cabin. She was surprised at herself for even considering his offer.

"What do your mature lady friends usually wear on the hike up ?" she asked, nervously, half jokingly.

His eyes twinkled as they penetrated to her inmost self. Finally, he purred his answer.

"depends."
posted to MetaFilter by longsleeves at 3:05 PM on November 21, 2008

While depleted uranium had long been suspected as a cause

... by people who couldn't differentiate between radioactive and toxic properties, and probably overlap with those who are HIV-to-AIDS skeptics. Pity there was so much wasted effort on trying to prove that link. Instead people lost a couple standard deviations of intelligence when they heard the word Uranium.

Thanks for the links, though.
posted to MetaFilter by FuManchu at 11:00 AM on November 17, 2008

The most famous anthropic argument was Hoyle's explanation of the triple-alpha process. The helium-4 nucleus (which is called an alpha particle if it is moving fast) is unusually tightly bound, for a reason much like the reason that the noble gases are chemically inert. If you try to stick to helium nuclei together to make beryllium-8, they fall apart into two alphas again in 10-16 seconds. Hoyle, who was mostly made of carbon, pointed out that you could never get a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fantabulous timewaster at 7:43 PM on November 16, 2008

It may sound horrible to some, but for a time, we actually did use Nerd Questions to weed people out in interviews in my old job.

Nitemayr, this seems fairly brilliant.

A year ago, a new franchise of my organization opened on the east coast of Canada. I had never met the owner, but a few weeks after the place there opened, my boss, the Big Enchilada for the organzaition, was going to be in the neighbourhood of the new... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ricochet biscuit at 12:38 PM on October 23, 2008

*phone ringing*

Beru Lars: Hello?
Deak : Hi, is Luke there?
Beru: No, he’s out in the back fixing some droids, Deak.
Deak: Ok, Mrs. Lars. I was thinking we could take the speeder to Toshi Station, maybe pick up some power converters. Tell ‘em I called.
Beru: I will Deak. Bye.

(next day)
*phone ringing*

Beru: Hello?
Deak: Uh, hi Mrs. Lars. Luke around?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Smedleyman at 1:20 PM on October 22, 2008

I was in class last week and one of my classmates was describing her pending proposal to the department: to get around the MA requirement of a course on a foreign national cinema, she is petitioning that the "David Lynch's America" course counts.

We were all nodding.
posted to MetaFilter by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:37 PM on October 21, 2008

EXTERMINATE ALL RATIONAL THOUGHT
posted to MetaFilter by Curry at 10:03 PM on October 21, 2008

What caused the Viking Age?

Scholars estimate that around 785, Mt. Loki, NE of Iceland, erupted spectacularly, pumping hundreds of millions of tonnes of red-hot longships from the deepest bowels of the Earth and high into the planet's atmosphere. This eruption was felt as far away as China, causing Yan Zhenqing, famous calligrapher, to spill his inkpot, resulting in his strangulation.
posted to MetaFilter by turgid dahlia at 8:50 PM on September 29, 2008

Men often make passes
At thick-framed girl glasses
And bikes with fixed gears
And PBR beers
And bang-cut hairstyles
And white lipsticked smiles
And workboots with gowns
and ironic put downs
From Jezebel and Bust;
They inspire such lust
For girls who arouse
You as they casually browse
Your MP3 playlist
Then they doggedly insist
To... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 2:49 PM on September 7, 2008

The first Ennis I ever read was Preacher. I adored it. When you think you're reading one story that happens to have that much glorified machismo in it, you think that's alright. It's fun, right? That's what it's all about. Awesome. The quote on the back of the TPB from Kevin Smith was dead on: "more fun than an action movie."

Then I read his run on Hellblazer. Then I read The Punisher: Welcome Back Frank. Just recently (inspired by the excellent fpp,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 8:49 AM on August 28, 2008

This comment exists solely to link to this pic, which is not all that on-topic, but is very, very cool.

Also, I like the Bob Mould cover of "Wall of Death".
posted to MetaFilter by BitterOldPunk at 4:44 PM on August 26, 2008

The thing about this blog is that it neglects the whole "Obama" phenomenon. How will this affect my taxes?

I know this is supposed to be a website for grownups, but I can see you there. Yeah, you. You know I'm talking to you. I'm on to you, kid. I know your dad walked away from the monitor for a sec to go polish his Ajax or tweak some CSS, and you thought you might get a quick look at some pictures of frogs having sex or something. It's all right, though,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 10:44 AM on August 26, 2008

Woolf, nothing -- that feels like someone poured Finnegan's Wake into the water cooler, and Dave from Accounts Payable's been drinking it all morning as he reminisces about last night's Leno monologue.
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 5:16 AM on July 17, 2008

Wait. So I'm supposed to be shocked, surprised, and stunned that a group of loonies who reject the majority of modern social and technological advances, who believe that education past 8th grade is a bad thing, who, in other words have a generally medieval mindset.

I'm supposed to be stunned that these medieval mindset people treat animals in a medieval way?

Ummmm.... Nope, I figure that after they finished beating their wives, sexually... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sotonohito at 4:18 AM on July 4, 2008

I am tempted to think the Man in the Moon is, at the far back end of all these traditions, our old, old pal the Wicker Man...

Oh no! Not the bees!
posted to MetaFilter by Kinbote at 11:53 AM on June 26, 2008

"Ethics" boards disgust me since they got whiny about Milgram.

Disclosures on psych experiments should say 2 things:
You can opt out at any time.Be prepared for a total mindfuck.And that's it. Who really goes into one of these things and thinks they're testing what they say they're testing?

Seriously, complaining that subjects were forced to face their own potential for inhuman acts and their overeagerness to defer to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vsync at 7:44 PM on June 19, 2008

Ah, well if you're going to post about Cindy Tower, this St. Louis Magazine article about her is a must-read.

Her stuff is so cool.
posted to MetaFilter by limeonaire at 5:59 PM on June 19, 2008

Going to the toilet is easy down here on Earth

This sounds like small talk that an alien would make in an attempt to fit in.
posted to MetaFilter by Countess Elena at 8:44 AM on June 14, 2008

Clearly the misogynist material needs to be illegal, and the bestiality, too (animals can't give consent)

Neither can women?
posted to MetaFilter by ND¢ at 2:32 PM on June 11, 2008

Everyone has a 100% chance of dying.
posted to MetaFilter by trondant at 10:04 AM on June 11, 2008

Joakim Ziegler - The lecture Chariots of The Dark Gods, (which was linked from this FPP), covers some of that ground, but without the weird political angle. The Morning of the Magicians by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier might be a bit of a link between Lovecraft and Daniken.

Personally I'm a bit of a fan of the Kirby version.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 10:23 PM on June 10, 2008

Gosh seems we were just talking about this a couple of weeks ago? In any case, I've got some of my prior comments about here somewhere, many of which are echoed in this article ...

Many folks believe we're seeing a classic asset bubble with oil prices now. There are two key drivers of this price surge that seem to be largely responsible for the price spike observed in the market - retail money and the ole' boogeyman, Hedge Funds. When I say 'key' I mean factors that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 3:46 PM on June 10, 2008

I hope she gives the 80 year old woman her spine back. She probably needs it more at her age.
posted to MetaFilter by davemee at 2:07 PM on June 10, 2008

THE 1934 GEORGE BUSH JOHN McCAIN TIJUANA BIBLE (nsfw)
posted to MetaFilter by quonsar at 3:10 PM on June 9, 2008

What the big deal is, is that marriage's status in secular contract law is changing, but the religious laws date from the time when marriage was an almost purely contractual matter (although what was being contracted was often, literally, peace). A marriage of two families, not just of two people; the purpose, to produce an heir to both houses, the participants decided by the fathers (or eldest brother) of the groom and the bride. Generally speaking, it's fair to say that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aeschenkarnos at 3:49 PM on June 4, 2008

Thanks to Horace's curiosity about whether I could use the trackpad or not, I have now become fully conversant in the operation of his computer. I'd chat more, but I have to go "borrow" his credit card and visit www.wildpacificsalmon.com.
--Perseus (Discourse Marker and Horace Rumpole's cat)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Horace Rumpole at 7:43 PM on May 16, 2008 marked best answer

Ich pwne noobs! at Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.
posted to MetaFilter by lukemeister at 4:00 PM on May 14, 2008

I prefer loltapestries, myself.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:23 PM on May 14, 2008

Our people are oppressed.
Aung San still not free.
Our country's now a mess.
Please help, Ron Burgundy.
Burma Save.
posted to MetaFilter by brianvan at 12:58 PM on May 5, 2008

If you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance and tires appropriate for off-road, the White Rim Road is gorgeous. It dives right down into the canyons of Canyonlands National Park. Example. Example. No shoulder. Be careful!

Requires a backcountry permit. Can also be hiked or biked. I've done the former.

Watch out for piles of radioactive tailings left over from from when they mined Canyonlands for uranium in the 1950s. In this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Slithy_Tove at 12:24 AM on April 18, 2008

If on your journey you should encounter God, God will be contained.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 1:36 PM on March 30, 2008

Why is it I can't stretch my arm across the room and my wife is still plainly visible?

On the other hand, I'm on fire right now, so things might work out after all.
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 5:20 PM on March 23, 2008

If 250 people favor this comment, I'll kill myself. In 90 days.
posted to MetaFilter by Item at 4:01 PM on February 10, 2008

I just want to say that "Belgian men with souls of wax" has a deliciously dark and poetic ring to it, and somehow made me instantly think of the horrible history of the Belgian's bloody conquest of the Congo, now the country of Zaire. It gave rise to a couple of lines, maybe I'll flesh 'em out into a song eventually.

Belgian men with souls of wax
down to the Congo came
and yet somehow they didn't melt
as their cannons spewed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 8:23 PM on December 31, 2007

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT THE SUN. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.
posted to MetaFilter by CynicalKnight at 10:05 AM on January 2, 2008

True story. My American wife joined me here in the UK this year. She's been in the group of Americans watching all the social security getting spent by Baby Boomers, working two jobs and barely getting health insurance policies worth the paper they're written on, yet paying a quarter or a third of their salaries for them.

She didn't have a very good idea of what the NHS was like before she came here, but has said the broad impression was of 'Soviet-style hospitals,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Happy Dave at 9:15 AM on December 19, 2007

My buddy Scott had a brain tumor a few year back. the doctors told him after surgery he would have some memory loss. Or he may feel "lost time." This made him super excited. Before he went in to get a brain tumor removed he had a party and he BEGGED us all to greet him post surgery dressed in futuristic post holocaust clothing and tell him the year was 2028. Instead we pretended his name was Jimmy and that he was gay.

True story.
posted to MetaFilter by tkchrist at 2:53 PM on September 27, 2007

If you're posing as a gay man in the 70s, and then disguise yourself to interview your subjects later, what do you do? Put on a second fake broomhandle mustache?
posted to MetaFilter by bunnytricks at 9:38 AM on September 8, 2007

It is your choice to see it or Nazi it.

Nazi puns? Fuck off*!

*No offence intended, hal9k
posted to MetaFilter by topynate at 1:40 PM on September 6, 2007

Uhh, might want to point out that the main link of this post has some NSFW-ish imagery on it.

It is your choice to see it or Nazi it.
posted to MetaFilter by hal9k at 1:27 PM on September 6, 2007

I was innocently looking for Christmas present ideas on his computer. Literally, I was typing in “fireplace tools” in Google. And, as he turned to me and said hey, let’s watch this show together, I knew I had to quit. Me, being the Web geek that I am, immediately went to his Web history to erase my clues...Wow, not even just porn history, but registered porn history, credit-card-paid-subscription porn history. My stomach sank

She was looking for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pastabagel at 11:20 AM on August 24, 2007

people also need to learn something about hauling before attaching a 14" trailer to their Ford Explorer

STONEHENGE! Where the trailers dwell, where the demons tow and they don't tow well!
posted to MetaFilter by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:04 AM on June 24, 2007

Instead of free fall, you could just have a very long heated tube and drop your brownie mix at the top of it; you would have a nearly spherical brownie at the bottom.

If you figure 35 minutes of cooking time, you'll need to arrange for 2,100 seconds of falling time. At 32 feet / second/second, you'll need a tube that is 141,120,000 feet, or 26,727 miles. This is close enough to geosynchronous orbit that you could simply suspend your heated tube from a satellite and give... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenkinsEar at 7:11 AM on June 9, 2007

"Fat is genetic." Um, no it's not.

Excellent rebuttal, but have you considered the implications of my 2006 study, "Is Too," as published in The New England Journal of Like, Duh?
posted to MetaFilter by designbot at 10:55 AM on June 19, 2007

The whale, known as fiddy ton, had immense sea cred as a result of surviving the attack.
posted to MetaFilter by srboisvert at 11:51 PM on June 13, 2007